Image information systems have recently been introduced in which photographic film images are scanned and stored in digital form on optical compact storage discs (CD's) for subsequent reproduction and display. The optical storage discs can be utilized to store audio information as well as image information. It is therefore desirable to provide a system in which audio information corresponding to the photographic film image is recorded when the photographic image is exposed, so that the photographic film image and the recorded audio information can subsequently be stored together on the storage disc.
One approach to recording audio information related to a photographic image would be to provide a camera with a sound recording system that records the audio information on an audio storage medium. The sound storage medium could take the form of a magnetic tape, a magnetic information storage disc, or a semiconductor memory that can be detached from the camera and sent with a film roll to a processing facility. The processing facility would then develop the film image, scan the film image to create digitized image data, and store the digitized image data on the storage disc. The audio information contained on the sound storage medium corresponding to the film roll would also be recorded onto the storage disc.
There are a number of problems associated with the use of a separate audio recording medium to record the audio information as described above. The complexity and expense of the photographic camera system, for example, increases due to the requirement of providing a separate audio recording medium within the camera structure. The audio recording medium can also become separated from the photographic film at several different points in the overall process, thereby requiring that a tracking system be employed to insure that the audio recording medium and photographic film are properly mated prior to recording the image and audio information on the storage disc.
In view of the difficulties associated with the use of a separate recording medium, it is an objective of the invention to provide a camera system that records the audio information directly on the photographic film used to record the image, thereby overcoming the problem of having the audio information becoming separated from the corresponding image information during processing operations. It is a further objective of the invention to provide a camera system that optically records the audio information on the photographic film in a manner that optimizes the number of images that can be captured on the film.